Cardano experienced a temporary chain split due to a vulnerability in its old code; the CEO stated that the FBI has launched an investigation.

According to a report by Cointelegraph, a temporary chain split occurred on the Cardano network due to a "malformed" delegation transaction. This type of transaction, which delegates ADA to a staking pool, is valid at the protocol level but can lead to code glitches that affect network functionality. According to an incident report released by Intersect, an organization within the Cardano ecosystem, this "malformed" transaction exploited an old code vulnerability in the Cardano blockchain's underlying software library, causing disagreements among nodes regarding how to process the transaction, ultimately resulting in the network split. This vulnerability was caused by an ADA staking pool operator named Homer J, who used AI-generated code to drive the transaction and has acknowledged responsibility for the network split. Staking pool operators have been asked to download the latest version of their node software to fix the problem and reintegrate the split chain into a complete blockchain. This temporary split has sparked debate within the Cardano community. Some believe Homer J's actions helped expose critical vulnerabilities, while others, such as Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson, claim it was an attack on the Cardano network, and the FBI is investigating. One user quipped, "Nobody noticed the Cardano network partition because nobody was using it."